ABA Journal

Entertainment & Sports Law

Lawyer Overhears Conversation About NCAA Probe of Hoops Star and Reveals Her Concerns

By Debra Cassens Weiss

Nov 20, 2012, 01:24 pm CST

yeah, overlooked - sure, ok. That seems completely and totally probable. I am sure that it just wsa lost in the junk folder.

Something needs to be done about the NCAA. It is as corrupt as anyone they investigate. More often than not, more corrupt than those investigated.

By sure on 2012 11 21, 12:58 pm CST

The NCAA does not let extended family and close friends pay for anything, let alone trips. It does not only apply to agents, coachs, and runners. If the NCAA determines that the amateur athlete receives any sort of benefit that can be attributed to their athletic ability, the NCAA can and does remove the athlete's eligibility. That can include actions, such as receiving a ride to the airport.

By Blake on 2012 11 21, 1:26 pm CST

Duke and North Carolina eh? Williams and Krzyzewski....eh?
A "family friend?"
Yeah...sure...

By wraparound on 2012 11 21, 1:55 pm CST

New concept in town called confidentiality--this "lawyer" should learn it.

By NOW JERRY BROWN on 2012 11 21, 2:11 pm CST

Leave it to someone from Memphis, quite possibly the most corrupt scholastic sports & collegiate recruiting town in America, to stand up for the rights of athletes on the take, "family friends" with ready cash, AAU human traffickers & crooked boosters, Once again, the rights of scumbags take precedence over a rational system. College basketball recruiting is a cesspool of malfeasance, and college football recruiting isn't much better (especially in places like Memphis). I'm for whoever's trying to clean it up, pretty much whatever their methods may be. The crooks follow no rules so I'm not too concerned when the NCAA fails to follow some or even makes some up. It just evens the playing field.

By RJP11 on 2012 11 21, 2:51 pm CST

The hypocrisy of the NCAA has been repeatedly exposed the past two years as the major conferences have established their own lucrative TV networks, bowl payouts have soared, the tax advantages of college sports continue and not an additional penny trickles down to the talent. The Big Ten schools will each receive $22M in BTN revenue this year. The Pac 12 saw its TV haul skyrocket from $58M two years ago before the formation of the Pac 12 Network to $204M in one year. This is no longer “amateur” athletics. It is big, tax free business. The principal beneficiaries are the coaches, whose salaries have skyrocketed because all of this takes place under the rubric of “amateur” athletics. Meanwhile, the “help,” the 85 scholarship athletes on the sidelines in college football, have not seen a dime of this money come their way. The NCAA “conveniently” goes easy on discipline when national titles are at stake. Tyrelle Prior and Ohio State were allowed to play in their $40M BCS bowl game as were Cam Newton and Auburn before the NCAA came down on either protecting the NCAA’s lucrative sponsorship tie-ins and national TV branding. Meanwhile, the athletes, lacking a unified voice, suffer eligibility losses over relatively meaningless minor things like free tattoos, money for trinkets and golf cart rides across campus. The players in the NFL receive a blended percentage of total NFL revenues which amounts to about 51% and delivers to them about $4.8B of the NFL’s $9.4B of revenue each year amounting to about $3.5M per player. An average NCAA player at the top programs receives something like $20K of scholarship money and is not allowed to profit from his/her own likeness because the NCAA seizes these rights. The NCAA players desperately need a voice.

By TJA on 2012 11 21, 3:39 pm CST

What is missing is any reflection on the fact that tier I football and basketball schools are nothing more than farm teams for professional sports and money generating business entities for the college. Pro teams should be required to reimburse every college that provides training, coaching, and game experience but fails to graduate a "student athlete" for the actual cost of the educational opportunity denied to someone who is not athletically gifted for the four-year slot the athlete occupied even though he/she may have done so for only one or two years. This includes state and endowment subsidies as well. A low estimate would result on payments of more than $100,000 for every year that the athlete did NOT use for educational purposes leading to a degree. Thus, an athlete who played one year and flunked all classes would require the pro team that signed him/her would owe 4 years x $100,000 per year. An athlete who leaves with passing grades after two years would incur only a 2 year x $100,000 reimbursement.
Face it: college basketball and football are the minor leagues and the pro teams should directly subsidize the schools for recruiting and preparing a pro athlete.

By OldePhartte on 2012 11 21, 5:02 pm CST

Couldn't agree more, TJA. The days of truly "amateur" sports beyond the high school level (and, unfortunately, sometimes even at the high school level) are over. I was visiting some friends as Michigan during the fab five heyday. Chris Webber was with a group of friends who were all pooling their money in order to buy some snacks. I couldn't help but notice that, as he and his group were counting their coins, a jersey with his name on the back was for sale at $30.00 a pop not 10 feet away from him. Now granted, in light of what we learned about the illegal benefits he and the others received it doesn't appear that he should have needed to count coins, but the overall point remains the same. These colleges provide about 20-25k worth of yearly benefit to the kids while making a mint off their names and likenesses. I'd like to have some kind of investment with that return!